Wesley Word – January 18, 2023

Carolyn Lemaster   -   January 18, 2023

To go along with service on: Sunday, January 22, 2023

Experiencing Grace

Exploring Truth – A Light to the Nations: Foolishness – Part 1

Isaiah 9:1-4 & 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

We are continuing with our Epiphany series: A Light to the Nations. Throughout this Epiphany season, we are going to discover who Jesus is and how he came, not just to be the Jewish Messiah, but the Savior of the whole world.

This week, and for the next two, we are going to have a series within a series on the theme of foolishness.

Last week, Paul called the Corinthians, God’s holy people. Remember, holiness is more about belonging than behaving. When we know we belong, we learn to behave. This is important because after calling the Corinthian Christians holy, Paul is going to dive into all of the problems they are having in their church, so many problems that we could call foolishness, the opposite of holiness.

In this passage, Paul is addressing the fight that the people in the church in Corinth are having about leadership. Some remain loyal to Paul, the Apostle who planted the church. Others have aligned with Apollos, the current pastor. Some are following Cephas, or Peter, the Chief Apostle. And there are some, no doubt trying to sound very pious, who say that they follow Christ.

Paul would say that this is all foolishness. The world already thinks we are foolish because of the preaching of the cross, we cannot afford any unnecessary foolishness.

 

New Testament in a Year: https://wesleyonline.org/biblereading/

  • January 18          Matthew 12:22-45
  • January 19          Matthew 12:46-13:23
  • January 20          Matthew 13:24-46
  • January 21          Matthew 13:47-14:12
  • January 22          Matthew 14:13-36
  • January 23          Matthew 15:1-28
  • January 24          Matthew 15:29-16:12
  • January 25          Matthew 16:13-17:9

 

Expressing Love: Family/Mission Activity

Foolish: having or showing a lack of good sense, judgment, or discretion

Leadership: the office or position of a leader, capacity to lead

“A leader leads by example not by force” – Sun Tzu

“When a wise man is advised of his errors, he will reflect on and improve his conduct. When his misconduct is pointed out, a foolish man will not only disregard the advice but rather repeat the same error.” – Gautama Buddha

This week set some time aside and consider how you lead by example; do you ever feel foolish explaining your faith to a non-believer? Does this affect how you explain your faith and the scripture going forward?

Announcements

  • WOW – January 18th, 6:00pm
  • Jazz Sunday is January 22—One service at 10:00 a.m. Special music by the Mad Creek Mudcats, led by Al Brotherton.
  • CAT Survey – Wesley will be participating in the CAT (Congregational Assessment Tool) provided by the Iowa Annual Conference. The CAT is an extensive survey for the whole congregation that will help us better understand the needs of our church. The survey will open at the end of January. Stay tuned for how to participate.
  • Highrise UMC – We designated our Christmas Eve offering to Adopt-A-Day at MSCA and Highrise UMC. Due to the weather, we had low attendance on Christmas Eve. We received enough to pay for the Adopt-A-Day (THANK YOU!) but did not have much left for Highrise. We would like to send a donation to Highrise at the end of January. If you would like to donate, please make your donation “Highrise.” Thank you.
  • 29th Annual Eagles and Ivories: January 19-22,  http://muscatineartscouncil.org/Eagles.html

    • Soup Supper: Friday, January 20—5:00-7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Music by the Mad Creek Mudcats
    • Syncopation Desserts: Saturday, January 21—5:00-7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Music by the Locust Street Boys
  • Jackson Concert Series presents Skye Consort & Emma Bjӧrling Trans-Atlantic Band—Thursday, January 26, 2:30 pm.